Requirements Elicitation:

Functional Modeling

Object-Oriented Software
Development
COSC 611
Outline

Use Cases
• Finding Use Cases

• Flow of Events

• Use Case Associations

• Use Case Refinement

• Summary

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Scenario example from last lecture: Warehouse
on Fire
• Bob, driving down main street in his patrol car notices smoke
coming out of a warehouse. His partner, Alice, reports the
emergency from her car.
• Alice enters the address of the building into her wearable
computer, a brief description of its location (i.e., north west
corner), and an emergency level.
• She confirms her input and waits for an acknowledgment.
• John, the dispatcher, is alerted to the emergency by a beep of his
workstation. He reviews the information submitted by Alice and
acknowledges the report. He allocates a fire unit and sends the
estimated arrival time (ETA) to Alice.
• Alice received the acknowledgment and the ETA.

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Observations about Warehouse on Fire Scenario
• Concrete scenario
• Describes a single instance of reporting a fire
incident.
• Does not describe all possible situations in which a
fire can be reported.

• Participating actors
• Bob, Alice and John

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After the scenarios are formulated
• Find all the use cases in the scenario that specify all
instances of how to report a fire
• Example: “Report Emergency“ in the first paragraph of the
scenario is a candidate for a use case
• Describe each of these use cases in more detail
• Participating actors
• Describe the entry condition
• Describe the flow of events
• Describe the exit condition
• Describe exceptions
• Describe non-functional requirements

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Use Case Model for Incident Management

tes>>
initia
<< OpenIncident

Dispatcher
<<
in

FieldOfficer
it

<<i
ia

nit
te
s>

iat
>

es>
>
ReportEmergency
AllocateResources

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How to find Use Cases
• Select a narrow vertical slice of the system (i.e. one
scenario)
• Discuss it in detail with the user to understand the user’s
preferred style of interaction
• Select a horizontal slice (i.e. many scenarios) to define
the scope of the system.
• Discuss the scope with the user
• Use illustrative prototypes (mock-ups) as visual
support
• Find out what the user does
• Task observation (Good)
• Questionnaires (Bad)
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Use Case Example: ReportEmergency
• Use case name: ReportEmergency
• Participating Actors:
• Field Officer (Bob and Alice in the Scenario)
• Dispatcher (John in the Scenario)
• Exceptions:
• The FieldOfficer is notified immediately if the connection
between terminal and central is lost.
• The Dispatcher is notified immediately if the connection
between a FieldOfficer and central is lost.
• Flow of Events: on next slide.
• Special Requirements:
• The FieldOfficer’s report is acknowledged within 30
seconds. The selected response arrives no later than 30
seconds after it is sent by the Dispatcher.
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Use Case Example: ReportEmergency
Flow of Events
1. The FieldOfficer activates the “Report Emergency” function of
her terminal. FRIEND responds by presenting a form to the
officer.
2. The FieldOfficer fills the form, by selecting the emergency level,
type, location, and brief description of the situation. The
FieldOfficer also describes a response to the emergency
situation. Once the form is completed, the FieldOfficer submits
the form, and the Dispatcher is notified.
3. The Dispatcher creates an Incident in the database by invoking
the OpenIncident use case. He selects a response and
acknowledges the report.
4. The FieldOfficer receives the acknowledgment and the selected
response.

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Another Example: Allocate a Resource

• Actors:
• Field Supervisor: This is the official at the emergency site.
• Resource Allocator: The Resource Allocator is responsible
for the commitment and decommitment of the Resources
managed by the FRIEND system.
• Dispatcher: A Dispatcher enters, updates, and removes
Emergency Incidents, Actions, and Requests in the system.
The Dispatcher also closes Emergency Incidents.
• Field Officer: Reports accidents from the Field

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Allocate a Resource (cont’d)
• Use case name: AllocateResources
• Participating Actors:
Field Officer (Bob and Alice in the Scenario)
Dispatcher (John in the Scenario)
Resource Allocator and Field Supervisor
• Entry Condition:
The Resource Allocator has selected an available resource
• Flow of Events:
1. The Resource Allocator selects an Emergency Incident
2. The Resource is committed to the Emergency Incident
• Exit Condition:
The use case terminates when the resource is committed
The selected Resource is unavailable to other Requests.
• Special Requirements:
The Field Supervisor is responsible for managing Resources

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Order of steps when formulating use cases

• First step: Name the use case

• Use case name: ReportEmergency
• Second step: Find the actors
• Generalize the concrete names (“Bob”) to
participating actors (“Field officer”)
• Participating Actors:
• Field Officer (Bob and Alice in the Scenario)
• Dispatcher (John in the Scenario)
• Third step: Concentrate on the flow of
events
• Use informal natural language 12
Use Case Associations
• Dependencies between use cases are
represented with use case associations
• Associations are used to reduce complexity
• Decompose a long use case into shorter ones
• Separate alternate flows of events
• Refine abstract use cases
• Types of use case associations
• Includes
• Extends
• Generalization
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<<include>>: Functional Decomposition
• Problem:
• A function in the original problem statement is too complex
• Solution:
• Describe the function as the aggregation of a set of simpler functions.
The associated use case is decomposed into shorter use cases

ManageIncident
<<
in
cl
ud
e>
>

CreateIncident HandleIncident CloseIncident

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<<include>>: Reuse of Existing Functionality
• Problem: There are overlaps among use cases. How can we
reuse flows of events instead of duplicating them?
• Solution: The includes association from use case A to use case
B indicates that an instance of use case A performs all the
behavior described in use case B (“A delegates to B”)
• Example: Use case “ViewMap” describes behavior that can be
used by use case “OpenIncident” (“ViewMap” is factored out)

<<inc
lude>
> ViewMap
OpenIncident

de>>
nclu
Base Use
<<i
Case
Supplier
AllocateResources Use Case
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<<extend>> Association for Use Cases
• Problem: The functionality in the original problem statement
needs to be extended.
• Solution: An extend association from use case A to use case B
• Example: “ReportEmergency” is complete by itself, but can
be extended by use case “Help” for a scenario in which the
user requires help

Help

>>
nd
te
ex
FieldOfficer
<<

ReportEmergency

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Generalization in Use Cases
• Problem: We want to factor out common (but not identical)
behavior.
• Solution: The child use cases inherit the behavior and meaning of
the parent use case and add or override some behavior.
• Example: “ValidateUser” is responsible for verifying the identity
of the user. The customer might require two realizations:
“CheckPassword” and “CheckFingerprint” Child
Use Case
Parent
Case
CheckPassword

ValidateUser
CheckFingerprint
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Another Use Case Example

Actor Bank Customer

• Person who owns one or more Accounts in the Bank.
Withdraw Money
• The Bank Customer specifies a Account and provides
credentials to the Bank proving that s/he is authorized to
access the Bank Account.
• The Bank Customer specifies the amount of money s/he
wishes to withdraw.
• The Bank checks if the amount is consistent with the rules of
the Bank and the state of the Bank Customer’s account. If
that is the case, the Bank Customer receives the money in
cash.

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Use Case Attributes
Use Case Withdraw Money Using ATM

Initiatiating actor:
• Bank Customer
Preconditions:
• Bank Customer has opened a Bank Account with the Bank and
• Bank Customer has received an ATM Card and PIN
Postconditions:
• Bank Customer has the requested cash or
• Bank Customer receives an explanation from the ATM about
why the cash could not be dispensed

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Use Case Flow of Events
Actor steps System steps

1.The Bank Customer inputs the card

into the ATM.
2.The ATM requests the input of a
four-digit PIN.
3. The Bank Customer types in PIN.
4. If several accounts are recorded on the
card, the ATM offers a choice of the
account numbers for selection by the
Bank Customer
5. The Bank Customer selects an
account. 6.If only one account is recorded on the
card or after the selection, the ATM
requests the amount to be withdrawn.
7. The Bank Customer inputs an
amount. 8.The ATM outputs the money and a
receipt and stops the interaction.
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Use Case Exceptions
[Invalid card]
The ATM outputs the card and stops the
Actor steps interaction.
1. The Bank Customer inputs her
card into the ATM.[Invalid card]
[Invalid PIN]
The ATM announces the failure and
3. The Bank Customer types in PIN. offers a 2nd try as well as canceling the
[Invalid PIN] whole use case. After 3 failures, it
announces the possible retention of the
card. After the 4th failure it keeps the
5. The Bank Customer selects an card and stops the interaction.
account .
[Amount over limit]
7. The Bank Customer inputs an The ATM announces the failure and the
amount. [Amount over limit] available limit and offers a second try
as well as canceling the whole use case.

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When To stop: From Use Cases to Objects
Level 1 Top Level Use Case

Level 2 Use Cases

Level 2 Level 2

Level 3 Level 3 Level 3 Level 3 Use Cases

Operations
Level 4 Level 4

A B A and B
are called
Participating
Objects

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Use Cases used by more than one Object
Level 1 Top Level Use Case

Level 2 Use Cases

Level 2 Level 2

Level 3 Level 3 Level 3 Level 3 Use Cases

Operations
Level 4 Level 4

A B
Participating
Objects

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Guidelines for Formulation of Use Cases (1)

• Name
• Use a verb phrase to name the use case.
• The name should indicate what the user is trying to
accomplish.
• Examples:
• “Request Meeting”, “Schedule Meeting”, “Propose
Alternate Date”
• Length
• A use case description should not exceed 1-2 pages. If
longer, use include relationships.
• A use case should describe a complete set of interactions.

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Guidelines for Formulation of Use Cases (2)

Flow of events:
• Use the active voice. Steps should start either with
“The Actor” or “The System …”.
• The causal relationship between the steps should be
clear.
• All flow of events should be described (not only the
main flow of event).
• The boundaries of the system should be clear.
Components external to the system should be
described as such.
• Define important terms in the glossary.
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Example of a badly written Use Case

“The driver arrives at the parking gate, the driver receives a

ticket from the distributor, the gate is opened, the driver
drives through.”

• What is wrong with this use case?

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Example of a badly written Use Case

“The driver arrives at the parking gate, the driver receives a

ticket from the distributor, the gate is opened, the driver
drives through.”
It contains no actors
It is not clear which action triggers the ticket being issued
Because of the passive form, it is not clear who opens the gate
(The driver? The computer? A gate keeper?)
It is not a complete transaction. A complete transaction would
also describe the driver paying for the parking and driving out
of the parking lot.

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How to write a use case (Summary)
• Name of Use Case
• Actors
• Description of Actors involved in use case
• Entry condition
• “This use case starts when…”
• Flow of Events
• Free form, informal natural language
• Exit condition
• “This use cases terminates when…”
• Exceptions
• Describe what happens if things go wrong
• Special Requirements
• Nonfunctional Requirements, Constraints

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Summary

• Scenarios:
• Great way to establish communication with client
• Different types of scenarios: As-Is, visionary, evaluation and training
• Use cases
• Abstractions of scenarios
• Use cases bridge the transition between functional
requirements and objects.

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